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During the period 1 April 2001 to 31 March 2002, the number of seizures of illegal meat was 1,242 and Weight (kg) was 18,955. Statistics by specific region are not available for that period.
Seizures of illegal meat for 2002 to 2007 are listed by region in the following table.
2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 Region ID Region name Number of seizures Wgt (kg) Number of seizures Wgt (kg) Number of seizures Wgt (kg) Number of seizures Wgt (kg) Number of times seized Wgt (kg) Vol (ltrs) 1 Eastern Europe 343 1,998 838 4,479 1,487 5,355 2,734 11,261 3,125 11,040.98 9,920 2 Eastern Africa 91 679 243 2,684 286 2,574 656 5,484 647 3,343.27 0 3 North Africa 10 14,119 53 361 113 617 263 1,179 394 1,225.29 1,200 4 Central Africa 14 148 61 550 78 573 97 511 130 730.54 2,000 5 Southern Africa 542 1,536 1,004 2,235 1,181 2,699 1,541 2,352 1,625 2,359.40 1,550 6 Western Africa 532 3,331 910 34,267 1,492 10,664 1,915 11,639 2,059 8,918.23 2,640 7 North America 124 298 402 2,706 720 2,333 693 1,647 656 1,427.28 256 8 Caribbean 237 826 279 1,617 451 2,171 567 2,320 722 2,215.70 0 9 Central and South America 43 183 102 346 132 544 175 2,037 252 2,799.13 0 10 Eastern Asia 549 5,182 1,486 9,664 2,807 23,662 3,471 41,618 5,795 18,735.59 2,380 11 Southern Asia 132 501 319 1,709 633 3,002 757 4,208 1,205 7,746.80 1 12 South East Asia 32 107 85 212 179 486 143 1,715 184 380.67 0 13 Near and Middle East 235 1,421 760 10,364 1,133 14,484 1,527 18,401 2,100 9,579.50 400 14 Oceania 31 503 127 326 131 411 124 453 80 17,698.86 0 15 European 19 52 60 714 8 7,943 7 30 14 65.84 0 16 Unknown 52 417 81 500 156 1,146 156 1,280 266 2,059.64 520 Total 2,986 31,301 6,810 72,734 10,987 78,664 14,826 106,135 19,254 90,326.72 20,867
The following should be noted:
(a) The aforementioned table shows by specific region the number, weight and volume of seizures of meat made from non-EU countries by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) at British points of entry (and by staff funded by DEFRA until 11 April 2003), those made by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development for Northern Ireland (DARDNI) at points of entry in Northern Ireland and those made by inland local/port health authorities where they were able to establish that the illegal products came from non-EU countries. HMRC have been responsible for anti-smuggling controls on products of animal origin (POAO) into Britain since 11 April 2003.
On occasions more than one POAO product at a time will be seized (for example, meat, fish, dairy and honey). This is referred to as a ‘multiple seizure’. Up until 31 March 2006, this was only recorded as one seizure against the product of highest weight although the weight of the other products seized was included in the weight recorded for that product. However, the number of seizures by product for the period 1 April 2006 to 31 March 2007 reflect the number of times each product was seized including those from a ‘multiple seizure’.
(b) Seizures of illegal meat imported into the United Kingdom (UK) are recorded by region rather than specific country. This is because in some cases it can be difficult to determine the precise country of origin for a particular product and people can often travel to the UK via another country (for example to catch a direct connecting flight to the UK). What is clear is that illegal imports of meat (and other products of animal origin) enter the UK from all over the world.
(c) Seizure figures are not recorded at the level of detail to determine the type of product (for example, chicken, pork etc.).